Sacramento Shuts Out El Paso in Series Finale on Sunday

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Finishing their series against the El Paso Chihuahuas on a strong note, the Sacramento River Cats crushed three homers and had sharp pitching efforts from three Sacramento hurlers as they captured their fifth consecutive win thanks to a 4-0 shutout over El Paso.

All four runs scored in the game came via a big fly, two of which came from the bat of Casey Schmitt. After putting the River Cats (10-5) on the board in the first with a monster two-out solo homer on a 2-2 pitch, Schmitt struck again for the game’s final two runs with a two-run blast in the eighth. Scoring on the play was Luis Matos, who had led off the inning with a base knock into right field. His first blast came off the bat at 104.3 mph and traveled 415 feet, while his second was just as impressive by with a 105.0 mph exit velocity.

Meanwhile, launching the other homer for Sacramento was Yusniel Diaz, his first of the season. Facing off against Chihuahuas (6-9) reliever Daniel Camarena in an 0-2 count, Diaz wasn’t just protecting the plate when he sent a ball deep over the wall in left field that made the score 2-0 at the time.

For Schmitt, he now has three homers in his past three games, and he became the third River Cat this season to have a multi-homer game. The two others on that list are Jakson Reetz, who was the first to do it on April 2 in Reno before Matos matched it the day after on April 3. It was the first two-homer game for Schmitt since he had a pair as a San Francisco Giant last season on Oct. 1, 2023 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Today marked the third time in 2024 that the River Cats have hit three homers in a game, doing so for the first time since they did it in consecutive games against Reno on April 2 and 3. Last season in 2023, the River Cats had 25 games where they slugged three or more homers in a single game.

While the offense was doing its thing, the pitching was there to match with the second shutout victory of the season, the first since they held the Salt Lake Bees scoreless in game one of the doubleheader on Sunday, March 31. This was the first time that El Paso was shutout since they were handed a 9-0 defeat at the hands of the Bees on Aug. 30, 2022.

Making his first start of the season for the River Cats was Tommy Romero (2-0), who went 5.0 innings for the first time since Sept. 16, 2022 when he went 5.1 innings as a member of the Rochester Red Wings. After entering the day second in the Pacific Coast League for ERA, Romero improved that mark by not allowing a run, scattering four hits and three walks with only one strikeout to drop his ERA to 1.10.

Taking the baton from Romero was Sean Hjelle on Major League Rehab, and he earned his first hold of the season after he went 2.0 innings and gave up only one hit while striking out two and facing the minimum thanks to a lineout double play to end the sixth.

Capturing his third save of the season was Spencer Bivens (3), all of which have been six-out saves. He did so yet again by entering with a 2-0 lead and working a shutdown eighth, ultimately ending with a line of 2.0 innings and two hits allowed with one strikeout.

Taking the loss was El Paso starter Nolan Watson (3-1), who lasted just one inning and gave up just the solo home run to Schmitt.

This was the first five-game winning streak of the season for Sacramento, and their first since they also won five consecutive from Aug. 20-25, 2023 when they took the series finale against Tacoma before winning four straight over this same El Paso squad.

In addition to his two homers, Schmitt picked up a base knock that left him 3-for-4 on the day with two runs scored and three RBI, giving him nine runs driven in this series. He was the only River Cat to post a multi-hit game on the day, though five others also picked up a knock including Diaz’s first dinger of the campaign.

In a year that has seen its share of quick and long games, today’s game was over in just two hours and four minutes. That was only four minutes longer than the fastest nine-inning game in Sacramento history, which was a contest that finished in exactly two hours on April 16, 2000 at Salt Lake.

After a travel day on Monday, the River Cats will put their winning streak on the line in the first of a six-game set against Oklahoma City on Tuesday with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. (PDT).